Feinstein gets another headache + We’re in the money + Is a pot tax revolt brewing?
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
GROUPS TO FEINSTEIN: OVERTURN THE FILIBUSTER OR RESIGN
A coalition of 69 groups have a demand for Sen. Dianne Feinstein: Support abolishing the filibuster so that voting reform bills can be passed by a simple majority or step down immediately and let Gov. Gavin Newsom appoint a replacement who will.
“The fundamental right to free and fair elections is under attack,” said Indivisible Sonoma County’s Tom Benthin in a statement. “Republicans in state legislatures across the country have been enacting laws that will obstruct people’s right to vote, allow voter intimidation, gerrymander congressional districts,, and give states the ability to reject valid election results. The Freedom To Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will protect our elections from these threats, but Senate Democrats must pass them soon. We need the senator to draw upon her seniority and leadership to champion the immediate passage of these bills, in particular by stating her willingness to either abolish or create an exception to the filibuster for voting rights legislation.”
Indivisible Sonoma County is just one of several dozen groups to sign the letter, claiming to represent 150,000 Californians.
In the letter, the groups expressed their gratitude to Feinstein for supporting voting rights bills, and said that the stakes for passing such reforms are higher than ever, with Republican legislatures across the country enacting strict voting laws.
“If we do not pass a voting rights law that stops voter suppression, partisan gerrymandering, dark money, and election subversion, our democracy will die. Not in centuries: now. The 2022 election will just pronounce the corpse,” the letter reads in part.
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Via Adam Ashton...
There’s plenty to go around this Thanksgiving.
That’s one takeaway from the monthly finance bulletin the Newsom administration released on Tuesday.
It showed personal income tax receipts into the state general fund up almost $8 billion above the administration’s projection of $29 billion for the first four months of the budget year.
Big businesses are paying more than expected, too. Corporation tax receipts are $1.5 billion above the forecast of $3.2 billion so far this fiscal year.
We’re buying more, and so we’re paying more sales tax. Sales and use tax receipts are coming in $1 billion above the forecast of $8 billion for the first four months of the 2021-22 budget year.
Taxes on booze and insurance also are coming in above expectations.
Both Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislative Analyst’s Office in recent weeks announced that they foresee another huge state budget surplus for the next fiscal year, with the LAO estimating a $31 billion windfall.
Here’s your reminder that Newsom in July signed a budget with an unprecedented $80 billion surplus, but, of course, past performance is not indicative of future results.
IS A TAX REVOLT IN THE MAKING?
The latest budget numbers are in, and according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, cannabis tax revenues are down 6.6% from the previous quarter.
The state netted a haul of $322.34 million in tax revenue from the cannabis industry, including excise, cultivation and sales taxes.
One California cannabis entrepreneur is saying “Enough is enough.”
Michael Steinmetz, founder of the company behind the cannabis brand Flow Kana, has written an op-ed along with his wife Flavia Cassani, calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature to enact several reforms by July 1, 2022, or he’s going to withhold his cultivation tax revenue from the state.
What reforms are they looking for?
Steinmetz and Cassani want to see the state put an end to the cannabis cultivation tax, issue a three-year tax holiday for the excise tax, and over-ride the “local control” provision of Proposition 64 — the ballot initiative legalizing adult-use cannabis — that gives cities and counties the right to decide for themselves whether to allow cannabis activities within their jurisdictions.
Needless to say, the League of California Cities isn’t a fan of that proposal.
Read the full story on the proposed tax revolt here.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Today, I am announcing my candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives to succeed my mentor, @RepSpeier, and honored to have over 30 endorsements from officials in the district. Please visit kevinmullinforcongress.com.”
- Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
Will California become an abortion hub? How a Supreme Court decision could affect the state, via Gillian Brassil.
Does Congress spend too much time away from Washington? Another break raises questions, via David Lightman.
A shareholder advocacy organization filed a lawsuit this week challenging a state law that mandates public corporations headquartered in California to appoint people of color or LGBTQ leaders to their boards of directors, via Kim Bojórquez.
There will be no alert for Thursday morning. Have a wonderful holiday weekend, we’ll see you Monday!